president obama won in 2008. tonight the fox affiliate in denver, colorado is reporting the state republican party has terminated its relationship with the same voter registration firm accused of fraud down in the state of florida. it happened after this videotape surfaced of a young woman only registering voters who support mitt romney. >> i am polling people but do you vote for romney or obama? >> i thought you were registering voters a minute ago. >> i am, i am. >> and who are you registering? all voters? >> i'm actually trying to register people for a particular party because we're out here in support of romney actually. i am. >> and who is paying you for this? >> oh, the -- let me see, we're working for the county clerk's office. >> okay. you cannot come out here -- >> working for the county clerk's office. that means taxpayer dollars goes to that teen-age person to go out and register people who are going to vote for mitt romney. the fox affiliate confirmed the woman worked for the republican firm. this is what happens when republicans get their backs against the wall. they

2008, at the first debate between john mccain and barack obama, which was this date four years ago, the focus was the war. in fact, both wars. >> do you, senator mccain, much has been said about the lessons of vietnam. what do you see as the lessons of iraq? >> i think the lessons of iraq are very clear that you cannot have a failed strategy. thanks to this great general david pa tray yous, they are succeeding and winning in iraq. >> whether we should have gone into the war in the first place. six years ago i stood up and opposed this war. we hadn't finished the job in afghanistan. we hadn't caught bin laden. we hadn't put al qaeda to rest. and as a consequence, i thought that it was going to be a distraction. now, senator mccain and president bush had a very different judgment. >> so that was this date, 40 days out from the election in '08 and 40 days out from the election in '04. in '04 the campaign was consumed with the debate over at least one of our wars. 40 days out from the election in '08, in the midst of the financial meltdown the campaign was consumed with both of the wars. no

barack obama like you've never heard from him before. >> oh, yes, that was the introduction last night before fox aired tape of a 2007 speech by then-candidate obama to a group of black ministers in which he criticized the response to hurricane katrina and provided certain analysts with an excuse for a little racial fear mongering. >> what's happening down in new orleans? where's your dollar? where's your stafford act money? makes no sense. tells me the bullet hasn't been taken out. >> do you notice a change in the way he delivers this speech? >> this accent is absurd. this is not the way obama talks. in is not a dog whistle. this is a dog siren. >> it's incendiary -- >> yes, it's just about as incendiary as two white dudes debates how black is too black in a black man's speech. indeed, fox ran with it all the way into the morning on "fox and friends". >> we watched president obama for 3 hchl years. i don't think he's governed in a race this way at all. i think that was going to be an issue. should have been an issue in '08. does anyone think president obama is more towards one r

bar for themselves. paul ryan gushed over president obama's skills on the debate stage. >> president obama is a very -- he's a very gifted speaker. the man's been on the national stage for many years. he's an experienced debater. >> shockingly, senior white house adviser david plouffe had the same feelings about governor mitt romney. >> we'd expect it all along that governor romney will have a good night. he's prepared more than any candidate in history and shown himself to be a good debater through the years. >> even the candidates were tamping down expectations yesterday. >> i don't think anyone would suggest the debates aren't important. i can't tell you how important it will be. i don't know what will happen at the debates. >> governor romney is a good debater. i'm just okay. >> the soft performance has gotten so soft it's almost evaporated. but while almost everyone seems to be muting enthusiasm in trying to undersell new jersey governor chris christie is taking a different tack. overselling with gusto. >> come thursday morning, the entire narrative of this race is going to chan

are living in poverty than when president obama took office. and 15 million more are on food stamps. my plan will create 12 million new jobs over the next four years. we shouldn't measure compassion by how many people are on welfare. we should measure compassion by how many people are able to get off welfare and get a good paying job. i'm mitt romney, and i approved this message. >> i think that ad just makes my point, they're tone deaf. good morning, it's thursday, september 27th, as you take a look at a wet times square in new york city. i'm in chicago this morning, but with us in new york city with willie geist, our national affairs editor for "new york" magazine and msnbc political analyst, john heilemann. also former treasury official and "morning joe" economic analyst steve ratner and nbc news chief affairs correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports." >> we have affairs. >> andrea mitchell. and in washington, for "the politico playbook," executive executor jim vandehei. of course, willie, we've got a lot to talk about. let's start really quickly with the refs! >> they'

entire campaign. it's a sharp taste of what's being used to defeat president obama. newt gingrich. what if obama is so outside our comprehension that only if you understand kenyon anti-colonial behavior can you begin to piece together his actions. and -- >> i would like to have him show his birth certificate, because if he can't, then he has pulled one of the great cons in the history of politics. >> and -- >> i wish this president would love how to be an american. >> and -- >> no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. >> and this tweet, obama sympathizes with attackers in egypt. and then last night -- >> he's not a real president. >> tonight on "hardball" we show you the true ugly campaign being run against the president. even in the face of this ugly attack, there are two big new poll numbers running in his direction. we give them to you tonight. let's check the hardball scoreboard. according to a "new york times"/cbs/quinnipiac poll, obama leads romney by ten points. down in florida, the president's lead in the poll is nine, 53-44. the president looks to be opening up a

senator rob portman who filled in as obama during john mccain's 2008 prep. the president practicing with jor kerry playing the role of romney. kerry is a good fit since the parallels between his '04 and current one is overwhelming. can romney get the post-debate bounce kerry did in '04 and take it one step further and turn it into something kerry couldn't do eight years ago. in '04 president bush had a six-point lead before the debates but kerry's performance boosted him tying the men for the final debate but it was senator kerry in december '04 and not president elect kerry. the national polls are close her today than eight years ago but the numbers in key battlegrounds today tell an obama victory story. democratic strategist steve el mendorf, kerry's deputy campaign manager in '04. how are you? >> good, how are you. >> tell me about why your guy won the debates and lost the election and what that says potentially about this dynamic and this race right now is this. >> i think any challenger has a benefit when they get up on the stage against the president of the united states. the

polling average now has obama up 4.1 points over mitt romney in national poles. nate silver's prediction model put barack obama's odds of winning the election above 80% for the first time ever. swing state polling just this week seems to confirm the trend. a new quinnipiac "new york times" cbs poll shows surprisingly strong leads for the president. the galup tracking poll shows obama up six points. it's pretty hard to survey the polling data and not come to the conclusion that barack obama is beating mitt romney, that if the election were held today barack obama would win and that romney has a relatively steep though certainly not insurmountable uphill climb to victory. that is if you operate in the alternate epi stem mick universe of the media. >> that begs the question, are these polls dishonest? >> no. look, we endo you them with a falls scientific precision. >> these polls, i don't pay attention to them. >> polling is very good at saying how you're going to vote. it's very bad at saying who's going to vote. >> these two polls today are designed to convince everybody this election is

trajectory of the race. president obama is holed up in vegas for two days preparing. mitt romney will be in colorado tonight. the latest poll shows president obama and mitt romney locked in a tight race nationally. but where it counts, those battle ground states, the president still leads. and here's another interesting poll. most people think the president will win the first debate which may be why he's trying to lower expectations. >> i know folks in the media are speculating already on who's going to have the the zingers. governor romney is good. i'm just okay. >> and paul ryan played his own version. >> president obama is a gifted speaker. he's been on the national stage for many years. he's done these kinds of debates before. this is mitt's first time on this kind of a stage. >> but if all candidates are trying to lower expectations, maybe chris christie missed that memo. >> governor romney's going to lay out his vision for a better and greater america for greater opportunity for all of our citizens. and i think that's when you're going to see this race really start to tight

american. >> and -- >> no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. >> and this tweet, obama sympathizes with attackers in egypt. and then last night -- >> he's not a real president. >> tonight on "hardball" we show you the true ugly campaign being run against the president. even in the face of this ugly attack, there are two big new poll numbers running in his direction. we give them to you tonight. let's check the hardball scoreboard. according to a "new york times"/cbs/quinnipiac poll, obama leads romney by ten points. down in florida, the president's lead in the poll is nine, 53-44. the president looks to be opening up a big lead now, even in the face of this coordinated attack from the right. with me now are mother jones bureau chief and msnbc political contributor david corn and cynthia tucker. i want to talk about the good news for the obama team right now. cynthia, why do you think -- take a minute here -- despite this ugly campaign i've just pointed out in its pattern, its thread, what they are doing to try to delegitimize this president, why is he doing well in the

than barack obama. he has to throw some punches. he can't just kind of go in there sort of apologetically and be very gentle with obama. he has to really throw some punches and show people why he's the better candidate. i think a lot of these polls are a little bit overstated. i think the democrats have been oversampled in a lot of polls, and i don't think there's that huge of a gap between romney and obama. nonetheless, he has to make a really strong stand in the first debate. this is probably the most important debate for him at this point in the campaign. >> i don't want to let that statement about polls go unanswered. eugene robinson's piece today is about what he calls the new conspiracy. republicans diluted that there are skewed polls. paul ryan was the latest one to join on the bandwagon last night talking about wisconsin. >> i don't believe that particular poll. i won't get into the methodologies about it. >> they weren't talking about a specific poll in na statement, which sounds like it doesn't matter to him which poll it is but it's tainted. what's your take on t

news poll, president obama leads by seven points. a "washington post" poll puts the president up by eight points in ohio. and the most recent poll by cbs and "the new york times" has president obama leading by ten points. romney was in ohio today, making a new pitch to voters. he's the guy who understands their pain. >> there are so many in our country that are hurting right now. i want to help them. i know what it takes to get an economy going again and creating jobs. >> voters in ohio don't believe romney on this front at all. when it comes to the economy, 51% of ohio voters say they trust president obama against 45% of voters who trust mitt romney. obama has an advantage on the economy in ohio, because basically, this state is a national success story when it comes to the economy. listen to mitt romney's ohio surrogate, governor john kasich. doesn't sound like there's much reason for ohio voters to make a change. >> you know, i hope you all know that ohio's coming back from 48th in job creation to number four, number one in the midwest. from 89 cents and a rainy day fund to $500

event today. he was in new hampshire this morning, arguing that president obama can't be trusted to deal with the national debt and that mitt romney can. >> as a result of the president's advocation of leadership, as a result of seeing the most predictable economic crisis in our country's history and not fixing it, our credit rating was downgraded for the first time in our history. when mitt romney was governor, the credit rating of his state was upgraded. that's the kind of change that we'll get with a mitt romney presidency. >> governor scott walker, republican from wisconsin, is also in new hampshire today, stumping on behalf of the romney campaign. earlier today, he spoke at the state's gop convention. meanwhile, today, vice president joe biden is in florida. he wrapped up an event in ft. myers not long ago, where he said mitt romney and paul ryan will block any bipartisan attempts to reduce the debt. >> paul ryan even voted against the simpson/bowles plan he talked about now, as a member of the commission. it's important to know why. because they will not vote for a single solitary

indoors all the time. it's a drag. they are making me do my homework. >> as romney and obama hunkered down, their surrogates are fan ing out across the country today. the first lady, ohio. that's where early voting begins today. biden is in north carolina. march koe rubio brackets the president's visit in vegas. paul ryan kicks off a bus tour of the buckeye state. >> i was teaching the kids the song on the way over here. >> we screw that up. of course, he's in iowa. not ohio. in an interview, romney was pressed for specifics on his tax plan. after ryan said on fox news on sunday the math would take too long to explain. >> you could say everybody is going to get up to a $70,000 deduction and can use your charitable deduction or home mortgage deduction or others. and you can fill that bucket if you will, the $17,000 bucket that way and higher income people might have a lower number. or you could do it by the same method that boll simpson did it. but that's the sort of thing you do with congress. >> so that's the most detail we have heard romney talk about this idea of different

said his health care plan up in massachusetts, the one that the obama plan is modeled after, shows his compassion. let's listen. >> throughout this campaign as well we've talked about my record in massachusetts. don't forget, i got everybody in my state insured, 100% of the kids in our state have health insurance. i don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record. >> well, shortly after that, very shortly, a matter of two hours or so, romney spoke before a toledo, ohio, crowd to denounce obama's affordable care act which is based on his massachusetts plan. let's listen. >> i will repeal obama care and replace it with real health care reform. obama care is really exhibit number one of the president's political philosophy, and that is that government knows better than people how to run their lives. >> well, there you have it. i think -- i don't know what you can say. he's talking to ron allen, a straight news reporter. this is the third episode here in a matter of hours. at a univision forum last week, romney adm

more attention around the decision of obama care. not only is there greater interest in the court, but there's also growing concern about the corporate tilt of the supreme court and the fact this is a supreme court that finds in case after case involving big corporations that they should retain power at the expension of the people. there is quite a lot of -- >> i actually think that's an interesting angle. the reason the court has been so -- has loomed to low in political life and the moments it's been a big election issue is because of social issues. i think primarily because of roe. it's because of roe. in some ways, the conservative arguments against roe as a bit of constitutional jurisprudence is taking it out it creates a high stakes battle against the court. not an argument i agree with but one many people make. one of the reasons maybe the courts a little absent from this campaign is because of much of what the jurisprudence has been about. citizens united have not been in the social realm, they have been in the helm of the relationship of how much they can have. that doesn't --

ohio and florida. according to "the washington post," president obama has a four-point lead over mitt romney in florida. four points down there in a very tough state. 51%,/47% for obama. in ohio, the president's lead is a more comfortable eight points. 52/44. that's dramatic. we have joining us -- let's take a look at that for a minute. howard fineman, thank you for joining us, and joe klein of "time" magazine. thank you. it strikes me the numbers i put out tonight, and i'm going to get all through them, shows a party obliterated to reality. she don't seem to watch the news. don't seem to know the huge fight that went on when we realized there was no weapons of mass destruction in iraq. that was the whole reality we lived in, the disillusionment on the right, the confusion in the middle, the anger on the left. they didn't even experience that period of time? >> well, chris, to put a charitably, i think the republican party today is the nostalgia party. that was my sense of it having kind of marinated in their world view down in tampa at the republican convention. they think of a simpl

advantage president obama held in ohio in three polls last week, worth noting the president has a lead that is outside the margin of error. for governor romney, time that cruel, cruel mistress is slipping away. early voting begins in ohio next tuesday. can he win without the state? if history is any judge no republican in history has won without ohio. according to the latest nbc news battleground map the president is expected to get 243 electoral votes to romney's 191. with eight tossup states. obama win in ohio with its 18 electoral votes would put him at 261 electoral votes, that is just nine away from winning re-election. surprising exactly no one ohio has been a top focus for candidates. while governor romney logged 17 trips to the state this election cycle president obama is making his 13th visit this year alone. earlier this month the democratic ticket made clear just how much ohio means to them. >> if we win ohio, we win the election. >> if we win toledo, we will win ohio. and if we win ohio we'll win this election. >> john heilemann, there has been no shortage of love for the state

previously uncirculated or not widely circulated tape of president obama on the one side and vice presidential nominee paul ryan on the other side have both been posted online tonight in typical, late in the campaign, october surprise, boy do we have a bomb shell fashion. first on the right at the tucker carlson website, the right wing sirens blaring excitement tonight is for the same kind of tape they have tried to make bomb shells out of the last three times we have gone through this in the election cycle. over and over and over again, the right has tried to make huge news not out of something president obama has done as president but out after a big unveiling, a big, giant, coordinated round of attention for something from president obama's supposedly secret past. this spring it was the glen beck website dousing themselves in gasoline and pulling the fire alarm over video of president obama speaking as a law student at harvard. video at a press conference where obama says nothing news worthy. that was explosive tape, not at all. last month it was the drudge report, which means

obama care. i've said that on the campaign trail. i think every single day obama care must be repealed in its entirety. >> he was for it before he was against it. and that auto bailout -- >> you said, quote, if general motors, ford, and chrysler gets the bailouts that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the automotive industry good-bye. >> that's exactly right. if you write a check, they are going to go out of business. >> my own view was that they needed to go through bankruptcy before government help and finally that's what the president did. so i'll take a lot of credit that this industry has come back. >> see, he told the president to let detroit go bankrupt so he should take the credit for saving detroit. and he's just as hapless on taxes. >> raise taxes with obama care but he's got another taxes in mind. >> governor romney doesn't need zingers. he needs to get his story straight. he needs to stop debating himself. and at the end of the day, this election isn't about one liners. just ask our president. >> i know folks in the media are speculating alre

check the "hardball" scoreboard. according to a new "washington post"/abc news poll, president obama has a two-point lead holding there, 49%/47%. same score in the new politico poll. obama by two, 49%/47%. "the new york times" this weekend reported on the two campaigns' ongoing debate preps. here is what they said about romney's prep. quote, mr. romney's team has concluded that the debates are about creating moments and has equipped him with a series of zingers he's memorized and has been practicing on aides since august. bob shrum, you have been on that particular role, preparing candidates for debate. what do you make of romney, a rather stiff customer to begin with, coming off as sort of a henny youngman or whatever, some sort of a don rickles with some zingers. i don't think of him as a zinger kind of guy where obama is expected to be left helpless. what do you make of that strategy? >> first of all, if you had it, you wouldn't announce it. it's kind of stupid. >> why are they leaking it? >> i don't know. because they're trying to hold onto their people, they're undisciplined, i

not widely circulated tape of president obama on the one sid d ce presidentl nominee boul ryan on the otheride have been posted online tonight campai, october surprise, boy do we have a bomb shell fashion. first on the right athe tucker carlson bsite, the right wing sirens blaring excitemen tonight is for the se kindf pe they ha tried to make bomb shell three times we have gone throu this in the election cycle. over a over and over again, the right has trietohuge me news not out of something presidt obama has done as president out after a big coordinated round of atttion for something from president weama's su itdoing themsees in gasoline and pullinghe fe udent at h where obama that was explosive tape, not at all. lastonth it was the drudge report, which means the romney campaign, it was them again d l video of president obama saying he beliein redistribion. spifally it wathat he believ essentially ie progreive tax codehat we have hadn this count for a time piod that's more ealy measured in centuries than in individual yrs. agai not exact a bomb shell. now a in gasine and hitting the

. in 2008 we were at war, and barack obama and john mccain fought it out every day in that war. this week when the financial crisis was absolutely on fire, at that debate, they were talking about the wars. this year, president obama does bring it up, he does bring it up at most of his stump speeches, how he explains what he has done and planning on doing talking about the two wars. he doesn't have to say much more because he's speaking to an empty room. the romney campaign has no identifiable position on afghanistan. they have been unwilling and unable to hold up that side of debate and so regardless of what it means for the candidates as a country we are deprived of a national discussion about a war we are in. 70,000 american families having skin in the game right now. we have -- that's part of the reason i'm looking forward to the debates. some ways sort of a post-policy campaign. and you can't do that in a debate, at least unless the debate is really bad. >> this is -- this is billed as a domestic policy debate, but -- and there are so many ways this is also domestic policy, these

support todd akin's candidacy? political showdown. president obama and mitt romney hunker down for their high-stakes debate in denver. >>> and bumpy ride. a 10-year-old philadelphia boy is arrested after swiping and then crashing a van. good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we are going to begin this morning with air scare. suspicion is swirling around american airlines after two flights in three days were returned to new york's jfk airport. the reason? passenger seats came loose on both planes. the first incident occurred on a flight from miami to boston. >> during climb-out, rows, passenger seats row 12d, e and f came loose out of the floor. passengers are unable to sit in that seat. >> well, the federal aviation administration said seating in both planes had recently undergone maintenance. the airline has now grounded eight 757s for reinspection. >>> to politics now where president obama and rival mitt romney will not be campaigning today, opting instead to prep for the first of their three debat

phone call from president obama today that according to the white house. this after a scheduling conflict kept the two from meeting in person. last night in new york the israeli leader did meet with secretary of state clinton one-on-one for more than an hour in what was described as an indepth discussion on iran and shared goal of preventing that country from acquiring a nuclear weapon. just hours earlier, netanyahu used visual imagery to lay out in clear terms his own red line for dealing with iran. nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell has more from the u.n. general assembly. >> reporter: trying to immobilize the world against what he sees as a threat to israel's existence, benjamin netanyahu armed himself with a simple cartoon to illustrate how close he says iran is to developing a nuclear weapon. >> this is a bomb. this is a fuse. >> reporter: a day after iran's president ahmadinejad called israel uncivilized zionists. iran is already 70% to getting enough nuclear fuel for a bomb and has to be stopped within months. >> if these are the facts -- and they

fact that the obama foreign policy is unraveling literally before our eyes on our tv screens. >> i think it interferes with the depiction that the administration is trying to convey, that al qaeda is on the wane, that everything's fine in the middle east. >> you think it's political? >> i think there are certain political overtones. how else could you trot out our u.n. ambassador to say it was spontaneous? >> maybe it was. >> five days later? that doesn't pass the smell test. it was ever ignorance or willful intelligence. >> whether you agree with him or not, senator mccain has the credibility, a war hero, with great experience in washington dealing with foreign policy, how do you think, though, paul ryan did with that? is that turning the page? did that ring true? does that ring as credible saying president obama's foreign policy is unraveling? did that work? >> there is a time and a place for everything. the day after an ambassador's death is not the time to rush out and hold a press conference in america. and by the way, i said the same thing. well, i thought democrats were sham

numbers. president obama still comfortably ahead. in fact, he's picked up a point. he's at 51%. mitt romney is at 43%. both campaigns think this one is getting more difficult by the moment for mitt romney to win. however -- and this is where it gets fascinating -- in virginia, the president's lead has shrunk to just two points, within the margin of error. last month president obama led by five points there. in florida, mitt romney has closed the gap as well. he's now statistically tied in the state of florida. it is a one-point lead. 47%-46%. al hunt, it is fascinating. ohio seems to be on its own as far as the swing states go. but we could show other swing state polls in colorado, in nevada, in north carolina. these states are really getting tight, to such a degree that a great performance by romney tonight could change the dynamic. >> conceivably, but i don't think it's quite that close yet. i think you certainly see it, as you point out, in florida and virginia. you don't see it in ohio. wisconsin it looks like it's actually widening. iowa, it's four to six. and the problem by tak

debate, the first time in five years that barack obama and mitt romney are going to be face-to-face in what the local newspaper is headlining as the duel in denver. joining me now for our daily fix, chris cizilla, msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com. first of all, this, the big face-off, let's talk about the state of the race. we have new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll numbers showing a slight tightening in the race. fou looks as though mitt romney is in the national polls slightly narrowing the gap. other problems within those numbers, problems for romney. >> yeah. i mean first of all let me say i love duel in denver. i'm a big fan of that one. i think andrea, look, last week there was a ton of polling both in swing states and nationally that i think caught barack obama sort of at the apex of the bounce he had received post-convention and post a couple bad weeks for mitt romney and mitt romney at the nader of where he could possibly be in a race where you have the country as divided as it is. the fact that things are moving back towards at the national l

this video we have seen before, covered extensively by the media five years ago, when obama first ran for office. those details did not stop the daily caller and some others from asserting the tape would shake up the campaign. >> people ask me whether they thought raves the reason the response was so slow. i said, well, no this administration was color blind in its incompetence. but, but everyone here knows that the disaster and the poverty happened long before the hurricane hit. >> and then the "huffington post" released what they consider their own bombshell tape, showing paul ryan at what his campaign says was on open forum, this was just last year, 2011. ryan's remarks are now being compared to romney's 47% comment. >> the good news is survey after survey, poll after poll, still shows that we are a center-right 70/30 country. 70% of americans want the american dream. they believe the american idea. only 30% want the welfare state. >> and republicans are seizing on what vice president joe biden said at a campaign event in north carolina. that set off another war of words. >> ho

street journal"/marist poll, president obama has a slight lead in nevada and north carolina but basically within the margin of error. and in virginia, a new poll from suffolk university/nbc 12 puts obama slightly ahead of romney, also within the margin of error. so, how can romney turn it around? it may not be easy. some people within this romney campaign have concluded he's not actually a very good politician. here's what one romney official explained to politico. he said -- now romney's former rival newt gingrich doesn't go quite that far, but he says that romney needs to reform his thinking. >> i think they're only now beginning to come to grips with the general election. they had a very -- >> scary -- >> they had a very successful primary strategy. in a primary you can raise enough money to build a motor boat and drive to where you want to get to in the primary. in the general election you're like a sail boat. the system is so much bigger than you. >> it is hard to go from a motor boat to a sail boat, known who is familiar with yachting knows that. ben smith, i want to go ri

candidates have experienced. president obama's last debate was against senator john mccain in the fall of 2008. while governor romney has had nearly two dozen debates during that gop primary. the obama campaign says the president's strategy is focused on shorter, crisper answers. the romney strategy, as reported in "the new york times" has the governor memorizing a series of zingers to try to hit the president with. let's bring in our "news nation" political panel for this monday. democratic strategist chris, national radio host michael, and also an msnbc contributor, and villa skype as you can tell from our shot there, steve, conservative radio show host. you have the visual disadvantage because you're skype. i'll let you start off first here. let me play what paul ryan, completely opposite of what chris christie said this sunday. his assessment of the debates. let's play ryan, please. >> i don't think one event is going to make or break this campaign. look, president obama's a very -- he's a very gifted speaker. this is mitt's first time on this kind of a stage. >> it's no secret, st

, president obama "no drama" obama and in the other governor williard mitt tens romney. both are keeps expectations low but both step into the ring with plenty of debate experience in the past five years. can either deliver a knockout punch without going below the bench? do we search body punches over job plans? will romney be over the ropes for taxes, bill obama be bum rushed for specifics. will jim lair send them to certain corners. after some debate of our own, we compiled our own list of what to watch. wasn't easy. here's a glimpse into the editorial brainstorm. >> the president has a double-edged sword being the president, because he's got a lot of command of detail, he understands policies, but the expectations are also high and he can come across as a little too arrogant. >> i vote for hates romney as a weakness for obama. to the strength of the president, he knows everything and he's been there and done that for three and a half years, so you can't stump them. >> toure says the president knows everything. romney's clear weakness is awkward and gaffe-prone. >> when he stra

president obama in denver and our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows voters across the nation are placing more importance on these debates than the last time a sitting president ran and was challenged. joining me chris cizilla, managing editor of post politics.com and nbc political editor mark murray. mark, first to you, go through the numbers on the new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. others have shown tightening of the race. when you asked voters whether they are looking to these debates more than last time did. >> people are paying attention. four in ten saying this is going to matter, be important to their vote, although worth noting about six in ten of the people said this wasn't going to be all that important. when you dig inside the numbers it shows that key parts of president obama's coalition african-americans, latinos, are actually putting a high importance on the debates which actually kind of shows the challenge that mitt romney has to actually get his side as enthusiastic about it. >> a shrinking group of undecided voters, chris cizilla, what is the strategy of b

will pay more or less with their tax plan. well, mitt, i'm sure president obama will give you as many of his minutes as you need to explain it all in wednesday night's debate. >> mitt romney needs a great october. >> we know romney needs a great october. >> to change the course of this campaign. >> the final push is on. >> just days away from the first presidential debate. >> both candidates cramming for the first debate. >> everyone trying to lower expectations. >> franticly spinning to lower expectations. >> president obama is an experienced debatetor. >> i'm just okay. >> almost everyone seems to be muting enthusiasm in trying to undersell thvernlths is mitt's first time. >> i don't buy that. >> chris christie is taking a different tack. >> we have a candidate who is going to do extraordinary well on wednesday night. come thursday morning when we get to thursday morning, the entire narrative of this race is going to change. >> this is mitt's first time. >> are you stupid? >> overselling with gus tow. >> chris christie said the next day will be romney's time to shine. >> don't

the last couple of weeks have shown that barack obama is losing a little bit in foreign policy and they seem to sense maybe there's an opportunity there. here he is criticizing the president for his handling of the libyan consulate attack. >> i think there have been a number of members in the administration, including state department who said this was a terrorist attack. the white house and the president are continuing not to admit what their own administration is saying, and i think it's pretty clear that they haven't wanted to level with the american people. >> the campaign obviously things they can get some traction on that. do you think they can? >> i thank can because on this case the facts are kind of on his side. i mean the obama administration's reaction to the libyan attack, specifically blaming it on the video for ore a week really wasn't a fine moment for him. he should level with the american people. if you don't know anything, don't say anything. he can get traks. he made some missteps and so he was unable to take vax of that as much as he could. but he definitely can

. >>> right now on "andrea mitchell reports" countdown to denver. president obama and mitt romney prepare for their first debate. both sides trying to lower expectations. >> governor romney, he's a good debater. i'm just okay. >> president obama is a very -- he's a very gifted speaker. the man's been on the national stage for many years. he's an experienced debater. he's done these kinds of debates before. this is mitt's first time on this kind of a stage. >> flashpoint libya, the white house on the defensive after reports of both security and intelligence nurse in benghazi before that terror attack. >> standing up, sitting down. >> which ever one you like. >> there you go. >> do whatever they tell us. >> the white house line is you heard the president say, osama bin laden is dead, al qaeda is done, everything is fine in the middle east. this, obviously, contradicts -- ther series of events contradicts that campaign slogan. so, the fact is, that this was clearly an act of terror committed by people who were pretty well trained jihadists. >> more carnage in afghanistan. the taliban

be trailing after the democratic convention. president obama is pulling ahead in the upper midwest. i think this may be less about -- this is only mitt romney, and mitt has to be mitt and it's all about mitt. this runs deeper than that. this is a sort of recentering of the american electorate we're witnessing. >> let's go back to the political article. it isn't the chair or the ho-hum convention or the looked video or stewart stevens or the improving economy or media bias or the message or mormonism. it's mitt. is it that simple? is the problem at the end of the day that it's the candidate himself? it's mitt romney who perhaps isn't what some thought he would be in terms of a candidate? >> i think it's some of the intangibles that surround the race, but i think largely it's the candidate himself. the problem, as i perceive it, is he's trying to please too many different bosses. he had to attack far to the right craig to win the primary process. he survived it. i thought there was going to be a leftward move towards the center to put him more where he was at the governor of massachu